LETTER: Our wildlife will soon be wiped out

The latest discharge from trigger-happy Dennis Hill - Advertiser, September 22, does seem more like a spoof than a serious and responsible contribution to the wildlife debate.

Nevertheless, as some may take such nonsense seriously, please permit me the brief comment that local badger groups do care about the community and will gladly appoint an experienced representative to liaise with the public in resolving the rare local difficulties which Dennis describes have occurred - as far away from here as Loughborough and Birmingham, significantly - and without recourse to killing.

Regarding the population of ground nesting birds, Mr Hill should consult the State of Nature report on the health of our wildlife recently published by the country’s nature conservation organisations, which records that almost two thirds of 8,000 species studied are in decline with between ten and 15 per cent in danger of extinction.

Sir David Attenborough calls it “a stark warning”.

Intensive farming, or ‘modern land management’ as it is euphemistically called, is the main cause of the problem. What’s needed is the political will and greater sympathy towards nature from farmers, and not people barking up the wrong tree, like Mr Hill.

As for moles, which are ecologically important and vital for biodiversity, not to mention having a perfect right to exist, they are disappearing due to persecution. So much so that some public-spirited souls are said to be removing any traps and disposing of them. And foxes are so over-controlled around here that most folk scarcely ever get a glimpse of one, more’s the pity.

Do take a more balanced and less lethal, hillbilly-with-a-gun view of life, please, Mr Hill.